Posts Tagged ‘criticism’

One of the first things I saw this morning was an e-mail update from a LinkedIn group I belong to discussing how to address issues with a certain well-known leader in the prosperity/faith movement. For whatever reason I clicked on the link and read some of the comments, and was shocked to see two or three people raising the “don’t touch the Lord’s anointed” defense.

What?

As we write in Chapter 5 — The Source of Authority, this concept arises from taking 1 Samuel 26:9-11 out of context. The passage states,

But David said to Abishai, “Don’t destroy him! Who can lay a hand on the LORD’s anointed and be guiltless? As surely as the LORD lives,” he said, “the LORD himself will strike him; either his time will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish. But the LORD forbid that I should lay a hand on the LORD’s anointed.

The context for the passage is that David and his men were on the run from Saul and his men; Saul was a bit mad, and was attempting to kill David. While David was openly critical and in opposition to Saul, he refused to kill him because Saul literally was God’s anointed King over Israel. He had been anointed with oil, and was one of the few individuals to have actually been anointed with the Holy Spirit.

Today, of course, all Christians have received the Holy Spirit; we are all anointed. No pastor or leader has any special status; no one is free from criticism and challenge.

We, of course, should be careful with our words when speaking about anyone, whether public figures or not. If someone is in sin, Jesus laid out a good course to follow in Matthew 18. If someone is in error, they should be confronted (Galatians 2:11).

The Gospel Uncensored addressed these topics in more detail. In a month or so, you should be able to read it for yourself.